Princess Augusta Wilhelmine of Hesse-Darmstadt

Full name
	German: Marie Auguste Wilhelmine

Augusta Wilhelmine
Augusta Wilhelmine
	Portrait by Johann Heinrich Schröder, 1790.
Duchess consort of Zweibrücken
Tenure	1 April 1795 – 30 March 1796
Born	14 April 1765; Darmstadt, Germany
Died	30 March 1796 (aged 30); Rohrbach, Germany
Burial	Stadtkirche Darmstadt
Spouse	Maximilian, Duke of Zweibrücken (m. 1785)
Issue	Ludwig I; Princess Augusta, Duchess of Leuchtenberg; Princess Amalie; Caroline Augusta, Empress of Austria; Prince Karl Theodor;
Full name
	German: Marie Auguste Wilhelmine
House	Hesse-Darmstadt
Father	Prince George William of Hesse-Darmstadt
Mother	Countess Maria Louise Albertine of Leiningen-Dagsburg-Falkenburg
Religion	Lutheranism

Princess Augusta Wilhelmine of Hesse-Darmstadt (German: Marie Auguste Wilhelmine von Hessen-Darmstadt) (14 April 1765 – 30 March 1796) was Duchess consort of Zweibrücken by marriage to Maximilian, Duke of Zweibrücken, and the mother of King Ludwig I of Bavaria.

Biography

Augusta Wilhelmine was born at Darmstadt, the fourth daughter and ninth child of Prince George William of Hesse-Darmstadt (second son of Louis VIII, Landgrave of Hesse-Darmstadt) and Countess Maria Louise Albertine of Leiningen-Falkenburg-Dagsburg.

Marriage

Portrait by Johann Friedrich Dryander.

On 30 September 1785, in Darmstadt, Augusta Wilhelmine married Maximilian, Count Palatine of Zweibrücken (later King Maximilian I Joseph of Bavaria).

Maximilian was an officer in the French army stationed at Strasbourg, but the couple also often visited Paris.[1] There Augusta Wilhelmine met Queen Marie Antoinette, with whom she maintained an ongoing correspondence.

In 1789, Maximilian's regiment rose in revolt and he and Augusta Wilhelmine fled to her parents' home in Darmstadt.[2] For the next five years, they lived mostly in the neighboring town of Mannheim. In December 1794, the French army attacked Mannheim. Augusta Wilhelmine fled the city when her home was shelled by French artillery.[3]

Duchess of Zweibrücken

In April 1795 Maximilian succeeded his brother as reigning Duke of Zweibrücken; however, his duchy was entirely occupied by the French. In March 1796 Augusta Wilhelmine, who had always had delicate lungs, finally succumbed and died at Rohrbach.[4] She was buried in the Schlosskirche in Darmstadt.[5]

Issue

She had five children:

Prince Ludwig (1786–1868), married Therese of Saxe-Hildburghausen.
Princess Augusta Amalia Ludovika, (21 June 1788 – 13 May 1851), married Eugène de Beauharnais, Duke of Leuchtenberg, Prince of Eichstätt.
Princess Amalie Marie Auguste (9 October 1790 – 24 January 1794), died in infancy.
Princess Caroline Augusta (8 February 1792 – 9 February 1873), married William I of Württemberg, and then Francis II of Austria.
Prince Karl Theodor Maximilian (7 July 1795 – 16 August 1875).

Ancestry

Ancestors of Princess Augusta Wilhelmine of Hesse-Darmstadt[6]

8. Ernest Louis, Landgrave of Hesse-Darmstadt

4. Louis VIII, Landgrave of Hesse-Darmstadt

9. Princess Dorothea Charlotte of Brandenburg-Ansbach

2. Prince George William of Hesse-Darmstadt

10. Johann Reinhard III, Count of Hanau-Lichtenberg

5. Countess Charlotte of Hanau-Lichtenberg

11. Princess Dorothea Friederike of Brandenburg-Ansbach

1. Princess Augusta Wilhelmine of Hesse-Darmstadt

12. Johann, Count of Leiningen-Dagsburg-Falkenburg

6. Count Christian Karl Reinhard of Leiningen-Dagsburg-Falkenburg

13. Countess Johanna Magdalene of Hanau-Lichtenberg

3. Countess Maria Louise Albertine of Leiningen-Dagsburg-Falkenburg

14. Count Georg Ludwig of Solms-Rödelheim

7. Countess Katharina Polyxena of Solms-Rödelheim

15. Countess Charlotte Sibylle of Ahlefeldt

Footnotes

Egon Caesar Corti, Ludwig I of Bavaria (London: Thornton Butterworth, 1938), 15.
Corti, 19.
Corti, 21.
Corti, 24.
Hans Rall, Wittelsbacher Lebensbilder von Kaiser Ludwig bis zur Gegenwart (Munich: Wittelsbacher Ausgleichsfonds), 142.
Genealogie ascendante jusqu'au quatrieme degre inclusivement de tous les Rois et Princes de maisons souveraines de l'Europe actuellement vivans [Genealogy up to the fourth degree inclusive of all the Kings and Princes of sovereign houses of Europe currently living] (in French). Bourdeaux: Frederic Guillaume Birnstiel. 1768. p. 70.

Bibliography

Winkler, Wilhelm. "Die Mutter König Ludwig I. von Bayern nach ungedruckten Briefen", Die Wächter (1924).

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[1] Egon Caesar Corti, Ludwig I of Bavaria (London: Thornton Butterworth, 1938), 15.

[2] Corti, 19.

[3] Corti, 21.

[4] Corti, 24.

[5] Hans Rall, Wittelsbacher Lebensbilder von Kaiser Ludwig bis zur Gegenwart (Munich: Wittelsbacher Ausgleichsfonds), 142.

[6] Genealogie ascendante jusqu'au quatrieme degre inclusivement de tous les Rois et Princes de maisons souveraines de l'Europe actuellement vivans [Genealogy up to the fourth degree inclusive of all the Kings and Princes of sovereign houses of Europe currently living] (in French). Bourdeaux: Frederic Guillaume Birnstiel. 1768. p. 70.